|
March 30, 2004
By JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS
Staff writer
It's 5:16 p.m. on any average weekday.
You've left your work on the south side of Holland and are heading home, northward, over the River Avenue bridge.
You and your spotless SUV are just one of the more than 40,000 vehicles that traverse the aging span each day.
And right at that moment, with rush hour exhaust accumulating, it seems like every single one of those 40,000 cars
and trucks are stopped in front of you.
It's hot. You're hungry and thirsty.
A chorus of horns honk and beep as you switch on the radio, and you discover that even the latest Celine Dion song
can't pacify your nerves.
You're going nowhere fast.
As the fluid in your radiator bubbles in unison with your blood pressure, you glance over to your right and see a
woman on a bicycle.
She is not stationary. She is not stuck in traffic. She is mobile.
And it makes you wonder ... maybe there is a better way to get around.
Area transportation planners learned early this year that even if they sink nearly $79 million into expansion and
improvement projects during the next quarter-century, many roads in the area will still be congested.
Road projects being planned and executed today are expected to ease traffic congestion on the area's busiest roads
in the future. But at the same time other roadways will become congested as the local population grows. One estimate shows
25.3 miles of additional congested roads by 2030, a 33 percent increase.
Area transportation planners are in the midst of drafting the area's 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan.
Their leader in this process of Census number-crunching and traffic pattern modeling, Steve Bulthuis, is stressing
again and again: "We cannot build our way out of future congestion."
Bulthuis is the transportation program manager for the Macatawa Area Coordinating Council.
So if adding more miles of pavement and widening lanes isn't the answer to bumper-to-bumper, what is?
There must be serious alternatives to the way we travel today, experts say. The next 50-to-100 years could see major
changes in the way we get from Point A to Point B.
Those could include a huge emphasis on pubic and private mass transit, a compressed work week, ride sharing, controlling
drive times or routes, non-motorized travel including biking and walking, and more people working at home telecommuting.
The last idea could be a boom for the area's economy, the office furniture capital of the world.
Ever-growing congestion on the area's and the nation's vast roadway network may force changes in transportation, like
mandating certain drive times or routes, or required ride-sharing.
Sue Higgins, the MACC's executive director, believes the traffic issue is already influencing growth and development.
"One of the biggest changes I foresee in the future is that we'll be more proactive instead of reactive,"
said Higgins.
The usual present-day course of action is the construction of a new retail center, or subdivision, or industrial facility
first "and then try to catch up the transportation network later," she said.
"What we envision and what we encourage is putting in the transportation part right from the start ... (by planning
for) how are we going to handle that increased traffic," Higgins said.
This is also why land use planning on a regional basis is so important, she said.
One day very soon it will be necessary to plan for new modes of transportation, something other than single-occupancy
cars, Higgins said.
She'd like to see the day when transportation issues, including necessary road improvements and consideration of non-motorized
paths, are an automatic review item for all proposed developments dealt with by local planning commissions.
Higgins acknowledged recent housing projects are being designed with preserved open space included, parks and pathways.
"We're starting to see that happen because it's market-driven. That's what buyers want," she said.
It's All Next Door
Or perhaps one day soon we won't have to do all that driving. One major factor that could play out in coming years
is the "walkable community," a diverse mix of homes, schools and stores close-knit, where a clear sidewalk and two
good legs will get you there and back.
In Holland's new south end, along M-40 near 48th Street, developers are preparing to make such dreams come true on
43 acres they're calling South Point Center, mixed uses co-existing in designed harmony.
In central Ottawa County, Allendale Township recently unveiled plans for a traditional neighborhood development that
will offer residents, students, and visitors an engaging environment in which to shop, dine, live and play.
Township leaders say the proposed development, a "town center," will incorporate the traditional neighborhood
and new urbanism design concepts.
These walkable communities would provide nearly everything we hold dear: Home, church, school, sports, community events,
recreation, and restaurants and grocery stores to keep us fed.
Workers could drive to their jobs close by, or walk, or bike or take a shuttle bus.
There's no good reason to fire up the Chrysler when that quart of milk is just two blocks away.
Under Construction
The biggest transportation story in our area in the last 10 years was the controversial proposed U.S. 31 bypass, to
connect I-196 near Zeeland north to the I-96/M-104 interchange in Crockery Township.
More than a decade after serious planning began for the bypass, it remains nothing more than lines on paper -- not
one mile of pavement for the planned 27-mile-long limited access highway has been put down.
Michigan's new governor, and other lawmakers, have something else in mind when it comes to state roadways: Let's improve
and preserve the ribbons of highway we already have first.
The bypass faded away in 2003, into a pile of "deferred" projects indefinitely.
Asked recently about the status of the bypass, Higgins responded, "It's still a viable project ... we check on
it all the time. It is deferred -- it's not dead."
Higgins said local officials continue to lobby federal highway officials and state officials in an effort to resurrect
the major project.
"All transportation funding is a very moving target as political leaders deal with budgets, at all levels,"
she noted.
In terms of the immediate future, there is one major project which will impact thousands of people, immediately, the
moment the first road construction barrel is dropped into position.
The biggest transportation story of the next 10 years will arguably be replacement of the River Avenue Bridge.
It is no ordinary bridge.
The antiquated concrete and steel span is a vital link between the city and its neighbors north of the Black River
and Lake Macatawa.
Soren Wolff, Holland city manager, calls it the "umbilical cord" for the north end carrying essential public
services to Park and Holland townships and beyond.
Spurred by a request for funds from the county road commission, Ottawa County commissioners are currently considering
ways to fund vital and expensive bridge replacements, including a special voter-approved millage.
This summer the first leg of the River Avenue bridge replacement project will begin with construction of a new pedestrian
bridge, erected east of the existing vehicular bridge.
This year's work will also relocate several utility services including electric lines, telephone and gas.
Construction on the main bridge, changing the existing four-lane span to six lanes, is scheduled to begin in 2005.
Higgins said other projects having a major impact on the area include the resurfacing of M-40 and adding a third lane,
from about Hamilton northward to the south side of Holland, and the major work planned for improving and widening busy Riley
Street in Holland Township, from U.S. 31 to 136th Avenue.
Some of the work on these separate projects is included in the MACC's projects list for 2005.
|
